


Wide Awake, Paper Chase

by xKillerKingx



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bucky needs to stop being a baby, College, Drug Use, F/F, F/M, Loki is sad sorry, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Tony is a piece of shit but he will learn, the extent to which non-pairing characters will show up is yet to be determined sorry, thor and bruce are idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-05-31 12:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15119774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xKillerKingx/pseuds/xKillerKingx
Summary: "It's going to be a good year."This is what Thor optimistically announces to his younger brother at the start of Loki's sophomore year. And yet, it still seems to get off on bad foot from the get-go.Loki is bad at coping with emotions, Bucky thinks he's better (he's probably wrong!), Steve is wracked with guilt over questionable decision making, Tony is widely out of control but he'll be fiiiiiiiine, Thor and Bruce are goddamn idiots, and all of everyone's friends think these kiddos need to get their heads outta their asses. It's fun times all around.Listen, not to be that kid, but summaries, amirite? I promise it'll be fun.





	1. Move-in Day

**Author's Note:**

> Not all potential issues are going to be tagged, but as things are included I will add them to the story tags, and put an update up here so if you have any need for content warnings of any kind please be sure to check the notes with each chapter update.

“It’s going to be a good year.”

Loki had to fight from rolling his eyes and the over-produced optimism in his brother’s voice as he popped the trunk on his SUV. “It’s going to be a year, alright,” he responded, holding his hands out and waiting to be passed a box.

Thor looked him straight in the eye with a stupid smile on his face as he passed the box over. “Positive thinking, Loki.”

“It’s going to be a great year,” he responded in monotone.

Thor pulled a box out of the car himself and closed and locked the trunk, before turning to face the dormitory his brother would be moving into. This year, they lived across campus from each other. Something about needing “personal space”. This Thor found ridiculous, as he felt he gave Loki plenty of personal space. He simply did not want his younger brother to become a recluse. Thor attempted to take some solace in the fact that Loki had found a friend to move in with this year instead of a randomly assigned roommate. Especially with everything that had happened, Thor found himself uncomfortable with the idea of Loki alone.

“Are you coming?”

Thor realized Loki was now feet ahead of him, climbing the steps to the building while he had been lost in thought. “Yes! Coming now.”

Loki sighed and turned away, continue his walk into the building. Loki was not an idiot, and he knew that for all the smiles and cheerful energy, his brother was worrying for him. What Thor did not realize is that his sickening optimism became twenty times more sickening whenever he was worried about Loki, and it really gave him away. Did he hate it? No. But he hated feeling like he was this fragile thing.

“I wonder if you friend has moved in already,” Thor said as the pair stepped into the elevator.

Loki shrugged. “Bucky is either twelve hours early or late, no in between. So we’ll see.”

Thor laughed, and then silence fell between them, interrupted by the ding as they reached the fifth floor.

“Alright,” Loki said, “515, 517, 519, and here we are--ah, looks like the idiot made it.”

Loki walked in to drop the box on the empty bed before turning to the other, already made up with sheets with Bucky sitting sprawled on it, ignoring the number of boxes sitting around him waiting to be unpacked.

“Yeah fuck you too dude,” Bucky said with a grin. “How was home?”

“Please, don’t ask him that,” Thor said as he walked in and placed his own box on the bed beside the other. “He only just stopped complaining.”

Loki rolled his eyes, “Listen, you wanted to come back here as much as I did.”

“And yet, I didn’t whine nearly as much.”

“God, he does whine,” Bucky said.

“I hate and disown both of you,” Loki said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“That’s the last of it, you lazy ass.”

The three boys in the room turned to the one who entered, carrying the last of Bucky’s crap in with him.

Steve Rodgers felt himself instantly die inside under the gaze of the other three boys.

“Thanks Steve,” Bucky responded without hesitation even as his roommate instantly turned away from his best friend. “Couldn’t do it without you.”

"Yeah. Anyway, I’ll be going then.” Steve then turned and hurried out of the room.

“I could hit him,” Thor offered.

Without looking at him, Loki said, “Don’t threaten my roommates best friend.”

“I do like it when you don’t beat up my friends, yeah,” Bucky said. “Kill Stark instead.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll do that,” Thor answered.

Loki groaned. “I can handle my own issues. And it’s not even an issue. Stop making it an issue.”

“Yeah, totally not an issue,” Bucky commented.

“Shut up. Let’s go get the rest of my stuff, Thor.”

“Whatever you say.”

Thor watched his younger brother walk through the door and down the hall, feeling a faint pain that accompanied most of the time spent with or thinking about his brother lately. He only wished he could do something about it, but every time he tried Loki became more distant. So he followed to at the very list help him carry the physical load he had to lift right now.

* * *

“Finally here, Strange?”

Stephen felt exhausted already with the sound of Tony’s voice. “It is move-in day. Typically, that’s when you move in. I expected you to be late.”

Tony sat up in his fully made bed, watching as Stephen carried in a boxload of his stuff. Stephen noted that Tony was fully unpacked - at least as fully unpacked as Tony Stark would be in the first month of living. His half of the room looked already lived in; in fact, it was already encroaching on Stephen’s space.

Tony grinned at Stephen. “Orientation leader. We get to move in early.”

“Yeah, you get to come back early, how fun. Who in the hell thought it was a bright idea to make you an orientation leader?”

“Steve got me to apply. And you know, I’m very charismatic.”

“Ah, yes, I get it now. Steve was going to be here and unavailable so you followed him just to annoy him.”

"I do not annoy him.”

“Miraculously, it seems you don’t,” Stephen said, picking up the laundry that was sitting on _his_ empty bed and throwing over at Tony. “Unlike the rest of us, he somehow likes you. And by God, I think you actually like him.”

“Of course I do,” Tony answered, throwing the laundry on the ground, but at least on _his_ ground this time. “Speak of the handsome devil.”

Steve raised his eyebrows where he stood in the doorway. “You sound like an old man.”

“Bite me, thot.”

Steve barked out a laugh. “I don’t like that better.”

“Then don’t complain.”

“Alright,” Stephen said, “as much as I’d love to let you two continue to disgust me, I’d even more love for you to help me carry all my crap.”

Steve gave a thumbs up. “Gotcha.”

Tony sighed, “Now why do you have to be nice? If you’re nice, then I have to be nice.”

“Finally, a good influence,” Stephen said, leading the way out the door.

* * *

The room was dark, lit up only by Bucky’s phone and Loki’s laptop. Loki was watching some new show that Bucky would have to hear about for the next week, probably, and Bucky was already dreading it. He really needed to get the other boy out and about sometime. He was _not_ going to be like last year.

Bucky stopped plotting when the text alert came up on his phone.

****

Bucky sighed and threw the phone down, lying back on the pillow. Between the two of them, Bucky thought he was probably going to die.

“Hey Buck?”

Bucky turned his head to see his roommate looking at him holding one earphone pulled out of his ear. “Yeah?”

“Why aren’t you rooming with Steve this year?”

_‘Jesus Christ, these two.”_ “You needed a roommate and Steve’s friend Sam needed a roommate.”

“Ok.” Loki put the earbud back in and looked back at the computer.

Bucky sighed, and wondered how he ended up with such delicate people for friends. “What are you overthinking over there?”

Loki didn’t look away from the computer, where he had obviously not started the show again. “I am overthinking nothing.”

“Sure.”

“Yup.”

“You know, I’m not nice.”

Loki snorted. “No shit.”

“Shut up. I mean, I wouldn’t room with you if I didn’t actually like you, asshole.”


	2. Syllabus Week

**MONDAY**

Thor slid into the booth across from the pair of girls who were chatting happily with each other.

“Thor, my dude, how is it going?” Val said, turning to him instantly upon his arrival.

“A 9 AM class was a terrible choice, and I will suffer for it,” he responded grimly.

“Yeah, I don’t do anything before 11 anymore after doing an 8 AM math,” Sif started the sentence with a smile and looked grim and mournful by the end of it.

Val laughed, “Yeah, especially since you failed.”

“Don’t remind me. Anyway, Thor, what is up? You dropped off the face of the plant,” Sif said, now looking at him earnestly.

Thor sighed. He had known that he was going to have to get into things, but he was hoping it maybe wouldn’t be instantly. And that maybe he would have a forty in his hand when it happened. And one already downed. And one lined up for afterward. “That,” he said, “is a long story.”

“Well,” Val said, looking at her phone, “I have thirty minutes to class, so make it a short one.”

“Between the required internship that my father had me on with the company and being the sole member of the Loki-clean-up-squad I barely had time to function. Hence, dropping off the face of the planet.” Thor felt tired just thinking about it. Somehow, not being on vacation felt like a vacation. That was probably because so far all he had to do was receive a syllabus. But he could pretend.

“What on Earth could you have to clean up for that tiny goblin?” Val said, with the greatest amount of affection behind the word goblin that one could place.

Thor shot her a look that could probably wither a plant. The strongest of plants. A redwood would probably shrink to nothingness before it. Sif thought maybe he was dying. “Seriously what on Earth has the kid done?”

“He hasn’t _done_ anything besides become a mess of a person.”

“Was he not already?”

“He is radically anti-social and has somehow become a completely irresponsible wild partier.”

Sif and Val both stared at him blankly for a solid thirty seconds, before Val closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “Ok. What the fuck?”

“Like, going alone to clubs and just, completely wild. Without telling me where he is _until_ he is trashed and needs a ride home.”

Sif seemed to rouse out of her astonishment. “Ok, this is 100% Tony Stark’s fault and I will kill him.”

“Aw, you care,” Thor said, almost smiling. But only almost.

“Rollback,” Val said. “I mean, yes, Tony should die, but I have a more legal plan.”

“I would love a plan.”

“We will be his friends.”

Sif and Thor stared blankly and Val, who looked thoroughly pleased with herself until she didn’t get the proper praise she deserved. “Ok, listen. Loki is in wild party phase now, right? Cool, we aren’t going to be able to stop him, _but_ it is actually good he isn’t antisocial as hell, right? So we just get him to go out with us instead of randomly. Phi Kappa is totally not hosting a party on Friday, make him go. God, maybe he’ll make his own friends.”

“ _Except_ he finds me annoying and overbearing, and tells me he’s not a charity case whenever I attempt to have him hang out with us.”

“Well,” Sif said, “you are annoying and overbearing. And he is a charity case.”

“Then recruit his friend, the roommate? They’re actually friends, right? Friend brings him to the party so he actually has a friend, he lets out party juices in a controlled environment where you can be all brotherly watchdog if you need to but bonus! It’s not a random club and he has a friend and you might not even have to worry about him.” Val leaned back, pleased with herself.

“Your plan for his party problem is a party,” Thor stated.

“Well,” Sif said, though she looked skeptical, “it’s definitely a more controlled environment. With potential for real social interaction that he has thus far failed pretty badly at.”

“See!” Val said triumphantly. “Do you have his roommates number! Commit now, while I’m watching you.”

Thor sighed, defeated. He knew that if Val had decided it was the plan, he would have to do it one way or another. And he wasn’t sure it was necessarily a bad plan anyway.

“Ah, shit!” Thor looked up to see Val frantically collecting her stuff. “Class like, now!”

Sif moved out of the seat to let the other girl out. Val pecked her on the cheek then started running out of the dining hall, shouting, “Later bitches!”

* * *

**TUESDAY**

Bucky wasn’t sure why he had even given Thor a hard time, except that it the texts seemed so strange. Regardless of Thor’s odd behavior, he wanted to get Loki out, and was happy for a way to stop him from spending the whole weekend holed up in the dorm. Given Loki’s completely lack of texting over the summer, and the obvious social incompetency it indicated, Loki needed to be dragged to a party and turned into a real human.

Even if Phi Kappa was hardly Bucky’s crowd, or likely to be Loki’s, the first party of the year was guaranteed a pretty good turn out and maybe with a shot or two Loki could be turned into a normal human who socialized.

“Man, are you even listening?”

Bucky looked up at Sam, who had clearly said something to him that he ignored. Bucky gave him his best shit-eating grin and said, “Nah, I don’t give a shit what you say.”

“One day, we’re going to fight.”

“How about today?”

“Guys,” Steve said, in that amused tone that really meant ‘stop’.

“Yes, Steve?” Bucky said as innocently as he could.

“What’s wrong Steve, did we do something?” Sam followed.

“I hate both of you,” Steve said, laughing.

“Anyway, I was asking if we were dragging our asses to the Phi Kappa mess or if we were sitting it out.”

Bucky thought, suddenly, that he might not have thought this plan through.

“Best to go while we still aren’t drowning in work, right?” Steve said. “Anyway, even if I didn’t want to go, Tony is dragging me.”

 _Of fucking course he is_ , Bucky thought. No shit Tony was going to be at any Phi Kappa showing, especially the first of the year. He was simultaneously pissed that he was going to have to steer Loki away from him the whole night and pissed that even without Loki he was going to be able to hang out with Steve without the attached Tony. Even when Tony wasn’t around, half the summer back at home was spent listening to Steve talk about him. Non-stop. 24/7.

“Dude, you don’t have to go,” Sam said.

Bucky mentally cursed his inability to keep his emotions off his face at all. “Nah, sorry. I’m going. Already committed.”

“Committed? Glad you’re going but is there some RSVP I don’t know about?”

Bucky forced a laughed. “Nah, I just told some kids in my photography class I was going, that’s all.”

Suddenly, Sam wasn’t looking at him, but over his shoulder. “Hey, what’s up man?”

Bucky knew who it was from the look on Steve’s face. They shared that inability to hide anything. Bucky looked over his shoulder and grinned. “Yo, Loki.”

Loki held up a hand in a brief wave. “Hi all.”

Steve smiled too brightly and said, “Hi, Loki!”

Loki looked at him like he had five heads. Steve visibly shrunk back into his chair. Bucky internally questioned God for allowing this to happen to him. “What’s up?”

“Pay attention to the time, idiot, we have class. It’s upstairs and in five minutes and you ignored my texts so you’re accepting the coffee I bought since you didn’t tell me what you wanted.”

“Aw, yes dude, I accept all coffee,” Bucky said, standing from his chair. “See you guys later.”

Sam waved them off while Steve only briefly nodded without looking at them. Bucky rolled his eyes and followed Loki out of the student lounge.

Steve looked up when he finally felt it was safe, and Sam was staring at him, not even hiding his amusement. “Dude, it’s so not funny.”

“Steve, you are my friend, and I care about you, but you’re an idiot.”

“It’s awkward.”

“Yeah no shit,” Sam said, “but you’re gonna have to figure it out since he’s Buck's roomie.”

* * *

**WEDNESDAY**

“My God, are you working, Banner.”

Bruce turned the computer chair around to see Nat looking incredulously at him, tailed by Clint. “Why do you insist on calling me that?”

“‘Cause you’re a nerd, and we don’t befriend nerds, and Banner keeps a comfortable distance,” Clint elaborated, before sitting himself on a library table positioned near the computer Bruce was at.

“Clint, you’re an unbelievable asshole,” Bruce said.

“Thank you.”

“Anyway,” Nat said, “what the fuck are you even doing?”

“Programming homework. We have homework, I’m doing it.”

“It’s _syllabus_ week,” Nat said, looking astounded that Bruce even existed.

“We had our syllabus on the first day of class _Monday_ , and now it’s, get this, the second day. With work.”

“Dude, you are completely unbelievable,” Clint said.

“Why do you two harass me?”

“Fun,” Nat said.

“Hey nerds,” a new voice interrupted.

Bruce groaned. “Good, whole gang's here.”

“What’s up Bruce’s weird friends,” Tony said to the pair before turning to Bruce.

Unphased, Nat said, “Nothing much, shithead.”

“Bruce, working? Good, get it done now, because we have plans,” Tony said.

“What are you talking about?” Bruce did not want in on a single plan Tony Stark ever had, and he was positive this would not be different.

“The party, of course,” Tony said.

“No.”

“Ah, no, no, no you,” Tony said, coming over and clapping a hand on Bruce’s shoulder then bending down to his level. “You see, your loner ass told me last year that you couldn’t come to anyyyy of my lovely social events because you were _so_ busy. Now you aren’t so if that wasn’t just an excuse, you have to come.”

“Tony, my friend, my buddy, my pal,” Bruce said, “that was 100% an excuse.”

“I’m offended,” Tony said, straightening up, and looking to the other two. “I’m not wrong, I should be offended.”

“Probably,” Clint said.

“You should go Banner, be a real person,” Nat said, genuine to a surprising extent given it was definitely an insult.

“Yeah, either of you going to go?” Bruce asked.

“Psh, no,” Clint answered immediately.

“Well…”

Clint turned to Nat, looking disbelievingly at her. “You? A Phi Kappa party?”

Nat looked almost guilty and shrugged. “Steve practically begged me to go.”

“Why do you have lame friends, why is goody-two-shoes going to a party, and why does it have to be the lamest type of party out there?”

“Anyway,” Tony clapped, bringing the attention back to himself (as he does), “sounds settled. See you there, Brucie. And you too, Red.”

“Call me that again and see what happens,” Nat responded.

“Just drag him there for me, would ya?” Tony winked and stuck a thumb in Bruce’s direction. “Catch ya later.”

“I think I hate him,” Bruce said thoughtfully.

“We all do,” Natasha answered, “but you’re going.”

* * *

**THURSDAY**

Loki was not a science major. But he was not the type of art major who hated science, or resented the fact that he needed one as a gen ed, but he did hate science lab. Because science lab meant lab partners.

And Loki showed up five minutes late. This was fine, because the teacher was forgiving. Normally, it would be a blessing to show up late and have time decide who his partner would be; he skipped the time when he was forced to actually look someone in the eye and ask them to be his partner. It skipped the time when all the people who already had friends and acquaintances in the class made it blatantly obvious that he did not.

Unfortunately, it seemed the unpartnered person in this particular class had turned out so do to his strong “I am not your friend” energy, and that person did happen to have a friend named Tony Stark. But caring about it was stupid, and Loki wasn’t stupid. So he walked over and pretended he didn’t give a shit that he was now lab partners with Stephen Strange for a semester.

“Looks like we’re partners,” Strange said, handing Loki a copy of the handout they had been given for the lab while he sat down and pulled out his notebook.

“Sure does. What are you even doing in an environmental science class?” Loki asked. He then realized that normal people usually don't interrogate other people over their class choice, and that his tone was regrettably to aggressive to pass for curiosity.

Strange, thankfully, hadn’t noticed or had decided not to point it out. “I need a science elective that isn’t one of the specific required classes for my course plan. This is the only one that fit my schedule.”

“Ah. I took it because it sounded easy.” Yes, Loki, this sounds like normal people.

“I apologize for the quashing your plan to avoid all of Tony’s friends.”

Ah, so Strange had in fact noticed. Although, Loki thought to himself, normal people don’t usually point out things like _that_ so they were probably now even in bad social behavior. “Cool, now apologize for bringing it up.” Loki attempted to busy himself with beginning to put together the microscope slides.

“Yeah, sorry for that.” There was a moment of silence as Strange watched Loki work, looking down at his hands while he put the materials together. And then, his own impulses seemed to rise again and he looked to the face that was turned down away from him and focusing on the work. “Still, roommate was probably pretty high on the list to be avoided.”

Loki snorted and looked at him, clearly annoyed now. Stephen thought he might be likable with this attitude more than the gloomy one he had come in with. “You know, now I’m thinking that maybe you might just be an asshole completely in your own right.” He held the slide out to him.

Strange took it slid it into the microscope, then peered in. Loki questioned why they were really bothering as Strange pulled away and began drawing the image in the circle their professor had provided. He was a classics major and he knew what a plant cell looked like. But perhaps, shutting up and focusing on the simple task was for the best. Still, curiosity got the better of him. “What happened to Rhodey?”

“Rhodey said, and I’m quoting, ‘I love Tony man, but i will literally murder him if we live together for another year.’”

Loki let out a single laugh. “Sounds right.”

“Five days in, and I already regret this choice.”

Silence fell between them, and neither spoke for the remainer of the class.


	3. Party-time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: alcohol and drug use

**[7 pm]**

Tony did not like the early stages of a party. A small number of people makes a fine party when they are all your friends; the early stages of a greek life party, with too few people you actually liked and a just large enough number of people you didn’t care about trying to be your friend and too small to just jump into anonymously, that was shitty. Tony didn’t mind people, Tony never had an awkward conversation in his life, but that did not mean Tony liked the stage of waiting to actually get to party with a bunch of people he didn’t actually care about.

“Hey Steve,” Tony said to the blond boy he had his arm around.

“Yeah Tony?”

“This sucks and this is why you are supposed to be late to events.”

“It doesn’t suck.”

“It kind of does,” Stephen said, from the other side of Tony’s boyfriend. “Which begs the question, how did I end up here?”

“You,” a new voice popped in, and Tony looked to see Rhodey rounding the corner from the kitchen to the living room where they stood, observing a couple sorority girls dancing alone, a couple of frat dudes only-slightly-creepily watching the girls, and three stoners working on their high, “are his roommate. How did I end up here early?”

“Because you asked when I was getting here, and I told you the annoyingly early time dumb blond over here decided on,” Tony said, straightening up from the wall and heading to the cooler. 

He pulled out a beer and tossed it to Rhodey, who caught it and opening it said, “Why on Earth did I listen to you, Tony?”

“My magnetic and charming personality,” Tony said with a grin, before opening a beer of his own and downing the whole thing. “And you love when girls use you for manual labor.”

“I really don’t. I’m just nice, unlike you all sitting here pretending you didn’t hear them ask for help.”

“Well then,” Steve said, straightening up himself, “I’m going to see if the girls need any more help.”

Tony watched Steve leave with a blankness in his head, the same not-quite-sinking feeling he got whenever he watched Steve get tired of them.

“Aw, we drove him away,” Stephen said flatly. “Give me one too.”

Tony grabbed another beer for himself and one for Stephen, handing it off and then leaning next to him against the wall. “I need better friends.”

“You need a boyfriend with a personality,” Stephen said. “Speaking of-”

“That sounds like a terrible start to a sentence,” Rhodey pointed out.

“Anyway,” Stephen said, rolling his eyes, “Boy Toy is my lab partner.”

Stephen watched Tony out of the corner of his eye, looking for his reaction, and he was not disappointed. Though Tony fought it, Stephen watched him grip his can tighter. “Why do I care?”

Stephen shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess it was kind of funny.”

“Well,” Rhodey said, “I think a good influence like Steve is good for Tony. Although my years of attempts at positive influence haven’t worked yet.”

“What can I say, I stick to my guns,” Tony responded.

* * *

 

**[8:30 pm]**

“I can’t believe we’re going to this,” Loki said.

“You can’t be anti-social. It’s party-time,” Bucky answered, clapping him on the shoulder as they looked at the house.

“Oh, the partying isn’t the problem, the venue definitely is.”

Bucky looked at Loki curiously as the latter went up the steps of the house and they entered the scene of blaring music and trashed college kids, but shrugged it off. If Loki had decided partying was a good time, Bucky was not planning on complaining about it.

As they moved through the crowd toward directly toward the drinks, Bucky scanned the room for faces he recognized. He saw a number of people he had been in a class or two with at some point but the real face he was looking for he did not find. Not that it mattered, really. If he were supposed to be here with Loki, it meant no Steve; if he wanted to be with Steve, it meant ditching Loki and he felt like he might get killed by Thor if he did. For some reason.

Bucky then realized it did not matter whether or not he ditched Loki, because he had in fact been ditched by him already.

“Dude, what the fuck?” he muttered under his breath. That 100% had not been a development he expected, but he decided it wasn’t his problem if Loki suddenly developed an ability to function around people, and, having grabbed a beer and exited through the other side of the kitchen, he found the shock of Natasha’s red hair in the crowd and with it, Steve, Sam, and someone that he did not recognize. Nat caught his eye and said something, and Steve turned to wave him down. Bucky went over there, figuring that as long as Loki didn’t get in any trouble himself, Bucky could hardly be in trouble with his brother.

* * *

**[10 pm]**

“Thor, stooooooop looking like that,” Val said, hanging over the shoulders of her girlfriend and jabbing Thor in the arm with her finger.

“Looking like what? I don’t look like anything.”

Sif rolled her eyes. “You look like a first time mother who left her baby at the house with a sitter for the first time.”

“I do  _ not  _ look that bad.”

Both the girls raised their eyebrows at him.

“Do I really look that bad?”

They nodded in unison, then Val said, “Listen, let’s do some goddamn shots and get you chill, alright? Anyway, he probably didn’t agree to come, or chickened out last minute, or got overwhelmed and left.”

“You  _ really _ don’t know what Loki is like anymore. He is so different.”

“Then he’s a big boy. Either way, drink up!”

* * *

**[11pm]**

Loki was, at this point, despite the drunken haze and the buzzing in his mind, considering that Bucky probably hadn’t meant for him to run off, get this trashed, and do a line of coke. He was realizing that Bucky still thought that he basically did not leave the house, and had not been updated on Loki’s new solution to his problems which was, “fuck it, have fun, do you.”

Loki, feeling himself already losing the intense energy that had further blurred his drunken mind thought that maybe just tonight he could cool it and go find his roommate.

It was at that point that Tony stark walked in the room.

“Oh my God, are you fun now?” he said, approaching the table that Loki sat at with a couple of girl he hadn’t quite gotten the names of.

“Fuck off,” Loki said.

“He’s totally fun!” one of the girls chirped. Loki smiled at her appreciatively while some indescribable combination of dark feelings bubbled in his stomach.

“Amazing,” Tony said, plopping down on the couch between two of the other girls, across from Loki. He peered down at the lines one of the girls was setting up. “I’d love to see.”

“Whatever,” Loki said, though he decided then that he could really use his high back. And Bucky would be fine.

* * *

**[12 pm]**

“You know, you’re great, thanks for bringing me out,” Bruce said, although in the slurring, it didn’t really sound remotely like that.

“Yeah, you’re so welcome Bruce,” Nat said with an eye-roll.

“Dude you so don’t party, this party sucks,” Bucky told him.

“How do you know that?” Bruce asked.

“Because we’ve been huddled in this corner talking only to each other the whole time,” Steve answered. “Sign of a bad party.”

“I mean, that’s at least slightly our fault,” Nat added.

“Nah, everyone here sucks,” Bucky answered, “their fault.”

“I think,” Bruce lifted himself off the wall that had been supporting him, and everyone watched with some mix of fear and amusement as he moved with absolutely no balance away from them, walking  _ backwards _ , “that they’re great! We should go and talk to them!” Bruce flung his arm in the general direction of the rest of the party, and his whole body followed, slamming right into an innocent bystander who was walking by at the exact wrong moment.

The rest of the group watched in horror as the pair tumbled to the ground. Bruce, who was clearly feeling almost nothing and felt pretty good in general, didn’t notice the pain of smashing into the other firm body but instead that it was  _ really  _ firm and definitely nice to look at with a head and a pretty face and pretty hair and wow he was just really pretty?

Thor on the other hand, whose nerves seemed to have counteracted the beer so strongly that he was stone cold sober, had the wherewithal to extricate himself from the other and lift them both to their feet.

“Sorry, sorry,” Bruce said immediately as he began to realize that he looked like a complete idiot and had somehow put in enough force to knock this giant pretty man to the ground.

Thor laughed (pretty smile too, oh my god) and clapped him on the shoulder (touching, oh my god), “That’s fine, we’re all good.”

“Sorry about that one, Thor,” Bucky said, pulling Bruce back to the group where Nat placed him safely back on the wall. “He, uh, apparently cannot handle his liquor.”

Thor’s face fell when he saw Bucky. “Ah, you’re here. Did my brother come?”

“He did,” Bucky answered, “but I lost him ages ago.” Bucky shrugged. “He’s a grown-up.”

Thor’s face portrayed some combination of ready to murder Bucky and complete concern for his brother that kind of made him look like he had to shit. “Well, have fun. Bye.”

“God,” Bucky said, turning back to the rest of the group, “he’s such a fucking weirdo.”

“Pretty.”

Everyone stared at Bruce. “What?” Nat asked.

“He...pretty.”

Steve turned away, stifling his laughter while Bucky continued to stare and Nat grinned, “Yeah that huge lug of man was very pretty. You know what Bruce? I think maybe we should head out.”

* * *

**[12:05]**

“That drunk idiot is kind of cute,” Sif said as Thor approached, peering over at the scene she had just watched Thor leave. “What’s with the face?”

“Well, that’s Loki’s roommate, and Loki is in fact here. Somewhere,” Thor answered.

“Okay and?” Sif asked. “Seriously, what are you worried about? Loki is a big boy, Thor.”

“He is a tiny child who must be protected.”

Sif laughed. “You’re ridiculous. Honestly Thor, so what if he does some stupid shit? It’s college. It’s time for heartbreak and partying too much to suppress it and all that jazz. He’ll act like an idiot and then he’ll recover himself.”

“I’m genuinely afraid for his safety, Sif.”

“Uh, guys?” They both turned to see Val looking worried, which meant whatever it was was really,  _ really _ not good. “I, uh, found the kiddo.”

* * *

**[12:10]**

“I think maybe I’ll leave soon too,” Steve said, looking down at his watch.

“Too late for you?” Bucky asked. “That’s quitter talk.”

Steve laughed. “Sam left ages ago and he’ll be pissed if I wake him up coming back.”

“God I still can’t believe he left at ten, what a nerd.”

“And you are the epitome of cool,” Steve responded. 

“You know it. Why don’t you go hang out with your boyfriend instead of leaving, you’ve been with us the whole night?” Bucky wondered why he even asked. He didn’t want Steve to leave at all, and he especially didn’t want Steve to leave to hang out with Tony instead. The whole night had been Tony-free and somehow he managed to bring it up himself.

Steve shrugged. “I don’t love hanging out with him at big parties. Like, just him and his friends are fine, but he gets unbearable at things like this.”

“I can imagine.”

The moment fell into silence, and Steve felt in the pit of his stomach an unease he had been feeling all too often. He thought about what Sam had said, had been saying, about what a massive shitshow this all was and how he was just going to have to cope. And that was fine, he could manage figuring it out and being awkward and dealing with the fact that he was a contributing factor to a shitty thing that had been done, but that wasn’t his only unease and he did not want to admit it. But something about being with Bucky felt different, and had been feeling different, and didn’t have anything to do with his roommate. Steve didn’t know what it was but he felt distance and he felt sick at the idea of that distance.

“Oh, shit,” Bucky said, bringing Steve out of his thoughts. He was staring down at his phone with a look of concern.

“What is it, Buck?”

Bucky looked up at him, clearly annoyed but mostly concerned, “Your boyfriend and my roommate are apparently snorting cocaine together.”

* * *

**[12:20 am]**

Outside, on the steps of the house, Loki said, “Waaaait,” and then the full force of his body weight went crashing onto the steps, with nothing Thor or Bucky could do to keep him standing up.

“Jesus, Loki,” Bucky said dropping down next to him, heaving a sigh of relief at seeing he was actually awake and sitting rather than completely passed out.

“You’re being mean to me,” Loki said.

“I am dragging your idiotic ass home instead of leaving you here, that’s nice.”

“You said you supported my decisions.”

“Excuse me?” Thor asked, looking incredulously at Bucky.

“I literally never said that. Now get back up, we’re going back to the dorm.”

“Don’t want to.”

“Bucky,” Thor said, “you can go back to the party, I’ll deal with him.”

“We aren’t allowed in other people’s dorms after midnight. Really, it’s fine,” Bucky said, while they each grabbed one of Loki’s arms and attempted to raise him to his feet.

Thor didn’t answer but he looked conflicted as they steadied Loki between them.

“Dude, it’s really fine. I get the whole big bro thing, but college party recovery is the domain of a roommate. He’ll be fine. I’ll text you updates.”

Thor sighed, but allowed Bucky to shift Loki’s weight toward himself. “Alright. Loki, don’t die.”

“Hmmmm I gueeeeesss.”

Thor stared at them for five seconds before sighing and turning back into the house.


End file.
